Five Common Causes of Chronic Neck Pain

Made up of a complex network of bones, ligaments, tendons, joints, nerves, and muscles, your neck is responsible for supporting the weight and flexibility of your head. It’s also the most vulnerable part of your spine and a common source of injury and pain.

Though it’s not uncommon to have neck pain after spending hours hunched over your computer, tablet, or phone, this type of pain usually resolves with at-home care. Unfortunately, neck pain can be chronic — lasting three or more months — and may occur from many causes. 

At Palm Beach Pain Institute, board-certified pain management physician Marcie Merson, MD, expertly treats neck pain for patients in Delray Beach, Florida.

Here, we share some of the common causes of chronic neck pain. 

1. Arthritis

Facet joints form the connection between each of the vertebral bones that make up your neck (cervical spine). These joints are the reason you can move your head up and down and side to side. Like other moveable joints, cartilage cushions the bones that make up your facet joints.

As you get older, the cartilage that separates these bones wears away, causing joint inflammation, pain and a type of arthritis known as osteoarthritis. In your spine, we refer to this as facet joint pain. 

2. Herniated disc

Each vertebrae in your cervical spine is cushioned and separated by an intervertebral disc. A tear in the exterior of the intervertebral disc allows the gel-like interior to leak out, causing a herniated disc. This herniation may irritate or compress a spinal nerve or your spinal cord, causing neck pain that might radiate into your shoulders, arms, or upper back. 

Though you can develop a herniated disc from an injury or heavy lifting, the herniation most often occurs because of the degenerative changes that affect these discs as you get older, making them more susceptible to tearing and herniation.

3. Cervical spinal stenosis

Cervical spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the space in your spinal canal, causing irritation or compression of your spinal cord or nerve roots. With cervical spinal stenosis, you may have neck pain along with numbness or weakness in the arms, tingling in the hands or fingers, or difficulty walking and maintaining balance. 

The narrowing in the cervical spine occurs because of age-related degenerative changes, including shrinking of your intervertebral discs, wearing away of the cartilage in your facet joints, and thickening of the ligaments that hold the vertebral bones in place.  

4. Cervical radiculopathy

Cervical radiculopathy, also known as a pinched nerve, is a compression or irritation of one or more of the nerve roots in your cervical spine where it branches out from your spinal cord. 

Though cervical radiculopathy is a condition that causes chronic neck pain, it may develop from arthritis or a herniated disc. 

5. Trauma

Any forceful back-and-forth movement of your neck, also known as whiplash, may injure the bones, intervertebral discs, ligaments, tendons, muscles, or nerves that make up your cervical spine. Though most people recover from this type of neck pain within a few weeks, whiplash can lead to chronic neck pain. 

Your chronic pain condition in your neck may limit head movement and cause pain that radiates into your arms. You may be at greater risk of developing chronic neck pain after a whiplash injury if you have a history of whiplash or other neck problems or back pain.

Chronic neck pain can make it difficult to work, sleep, and maintain an active lifestyle. Don’t let your neck pain dictate how you live your life. We offer many innovative pain treatments to alleviate chronic neck pain. 

Call our office or book an appointment online today.